Health is Wealth programme 24 - 15oct2024

The winter vaccination program has started, aiming to protect against COVID and the flu. Eligible groups include those over 60, pregnant women, healthcare workers, and those with long-term conditions under 60. COVID and the flu are still serious illnesses and can lead to hospitalizations, putting pressure on healthcare services. It is recommended to get vaccinated to protect oneself and others. Children between the ages of 2 and 17 can receive a nasal flu vaccine. Vaccines are effective at preventing illness and severity, even if symptoms do occur. It is important to get vaccinated to prevent the spread of the viruses. The Health Sloth on Connemara Community Radio. A weekly program supported by funding from commissioning them on with the television license fee. Oh Doctor, I'm in trouble. Well, goodness gracious me. For every time a certain man is standing next to me, a flush comes to my face and my pulse begins to race. It goes boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boom, boom. Boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boody, boom. Well, goodness gracious me. My next guest, Dr. Aidan Ryan, consultant in public health with the HSE, is on the line to talk to us a bit about the winter vaccination program. So first of all, Aidan, you're very, very welcome to Connemara Community Radio. Hi Marion, thanks for having me on. Right, so as you say, the winter vaccination program has actually started, started at the beginning of the month. And of course, you know, you're trying to make sure that people who need the vaccinations get them. So I suppose, first of all, if we could just say, you know, what vaccinations are we talking about and who is it recommended to get them? Yeah, so as you say, it's that time of year again. Winter is nearly upon us and I think it's beginning to feel that way as well. So we can expect the COVID and the flu viruses to circulate in the next few months. So what we are urging people to do is to get the best protection against these two viruses, which is vaccination. And so we recommend that everyone over the age of 60, anyone with long-term conditions under 60 and over six months, anyone who's pregnant and all healthcare workers to get the vaccine. Those are the ones in the eligible groups. And this was flu and COVID. COVID, it hasn't gone away. No, it hasn't. We wish it had, but it hasn't. And it's still a very serious illness, as with flu. Last winter, there were over 4,000 hospitalisations in Ireland due to the flu. And COVID resulted in nearly 7,000 hospitalisations due to COVID. That's for the period of a year, 4,000 to 7,000. Well, that would be the winter. The winter season last year. It's a lot, isn't it? It is a lot. And I suppose that's why we are urging people to go, if they're in the eligible groups, to go and get vaccinated to protect themselves, not only themselves, but also those around them. And not only those around them, but also the health services. COVID puts great pressure upon the health services during the winter season. And we all want to protect those services for ourselves and for others, and our loved ones who may end up in hospital. So these two vaccines, the eligible groups, as I said, anyone over 60. Everyone over 60 is eligible to get these two vaccines free. Get them, just speak to your pharmacist, your GP, and you can also look up the HC website for routine clinics that may be on in the area. So those over 60. Also, anyone who's pregnant or healthcare workers, and those with long-term conditions who are under 60. So don't give these vaccines to infants under six months, from six months up to the age of 59, those with long-term conditions. And those long-term conditions are much the same as last year. So if you were eligible in these groups last year, it's not likely to fall into these groups again. People who either were susceptible to getting one of these viruses because of their weakened immune system, or if they have another condition, which if they did get it, it would be more severe. So we're talking about someone perhaps with chronic disease, such as chronic heart disease, chronic lung disease, kidney disease, cancer, diabetes, immunosuppression. All these groups. And if someone out there is not sure to fall into one of these groups, just chat to your GP. I was going to say that. Your GP would advise whether or not you fall within that cohort to get free eligibility. Presumably, if you don't fall within that, but you want to get it anyway, you can get it and pay for it. The flu vaccine, yes, you can get it. It's not through the HSE. It's a COVID vaccine. And if someone wants to get it, but they don't fall into these groups, then chat to your GP and they can get it for free. Okay. There's an interesting point that I came across there to say that if people have had COVID-19 over the last few months, they should wait for a period before actually getting the vaccination. That's right. So we did have a surge in COVID over the summer months. This was mainly driven by the JN1 variant of COVID, which the vaccine was against. So if someone has had COVID within the past three months, then they should just wait until at least three months is up to get the COVID vaccine. Now, ideally, people would get two vaccines together. It's easier for everyone to just get them together. They can get it together or at any instance after that. But if someone has to delay the COVID vaccine because they've had COVID in the past three months, we would still recommend that they get the flu vaccine now early, not rather than waiting to get them both together because the flu season has started. It starts the first of October. We are seeing flu cases, particularly in other schools, that want to drive the increase in flu. So we'd like people to get the flu vaccine now, get the COVID vaccine as soon as they can. All right. I'm looking here for children. There's a nasal flu vaccine, which it says here available from next week, but I don't know when this was written. So is that available now? It's available now. And this, yeah, this is in addition to what I've already described. This is a nasal vaccine. It's for all of those between the age of two and 17 years, inclusive. So anyone up to the age of 18. And it's given in schools. You can also get it through the GP or the pharmacy. And there's a spray. It happens when I still have it. There's no injection of blood. And flu can be a serious illness for children. Children are hospitalized each year. You can't predict who is going to get hospitalized or not. And so it also will reduce, protect those in the households and continue reducing the circulation of the virus. Well, that's the question. One of the most important things really is that anybody who has any of these viruses are passing it on, not only to people they come across in their everyday lives, but also to healthcare workers and so on. And so the whole circle starts again. But you mentioned 4,000 and 7,000, 7,000 deaths, wasn't it, last year? Oh, sorry, hospitalization. Hospitalization, sorry. Apologies. Are there any numbers to say how many of those people who are hospitalized had had vaccines and how many hadn't? Is that known? Yes. Whenever someone is part of our surveillance, we do collect that information. And we don't have that information on hand. But what we have found is that the vaccines, both vaccines, flu and COVID, they're very effective at preventing the illness. But they're even more effective at preventing severeness. So even if someone does develop symptoms, if they've had the vaccine, then they're very unlikely to end up in ICU or even in hospital. So even if they do develop symptoms, it does prevent that severeness, which is really what I'm concerned about. Exactly, yes, and especially for older, vulnerable people. Okay, well, I think we've probably covered that fairly well. I have to leave it there. But thank you very, very much for joining us. And it's a very important thing. And I do hope that everybody who's entitled to it anyway will certainly go and get those vaccinations. Thank you very much, Dr. Aidan Ryan. Thank you very much. The Health Floss on Connemara Community Radio, a weekly program supported by funding from Commission Amon with a television license fee. Oh, doctor, I'm in trouble. Well, goodness gracious me. For every time a certain man is standing next to me, a flush comes to my face and my pulse begins to race. It goes boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boom, boom. Boom, boody, boom, boody, boom, boody, boom. Well, goodness gracious me.